Oct. 2, 2007
SAN DIEGO - SAN DIEGO - SAN DIEGO STATE FOOTBALL NEWS CONFERENCE QUOTES
AZTEC ATHLETICS CENTER
OCTOBER 2, 2007
San Diego State Head coach Chuck Long
Opening Statement:
"We are excited to begin Mountain West Conference play this week and put our first four games behind us. This will be a big week of practice in preparing for our conference opener. We have our work cut out for us going up against a Colorado State. They are a team that is hungry for its first win. They are a well-coached team, but we are hungry for a win as well, which should make for a good battle.
"We have some good things happening with our team right now starting with us leading the conference in turnover margin. We wanted to establish that in our first four games. Our guys are starting to take pride in that statistic. We hope that statistic continues on the rest of the season."
"We are also the No. 1 team in terms of pass efficiency with Kevin O'Connell being the No. 1 quarterback in the conference. That is always a good sign because game comes down to efficiency. We are also excited that Brett Swain is leading the conference in receiving yards per game. He has been a very consistent receiver for us."
"Our third and fourth down efficiency has also gone up. We are much improved in that area versus last year. It's a credit to our guys who are working hard in our system and are now making it work."
"We don't like what our record is right now but that is over with and done. We played a tough non-conference schedule, No. 10 in the nation, and we hope that there is some sort of resolve down the road from our guys. We've faced some very tough football teams with very efficient passers. With our young and inexperienced group on defense, it's been tough on them. Hopefully, playing these tough teams pays off dividends down the road.
On the team's mindset after playing the non-conference schedule:
"Those games are behind us. It was a schedule I couldn't do much about when I got here and we had to live with it. To move the program forward we have to have better scheduling in the future. We've worked on that and right now we are ready to focus in on conference play. If you look at our conference, more so than last year, it's wide open. We like that the conference is more wide open this year."
On Colorado State:
"They are a dangerous team. (Coach Sonny Lubick) has been there a long time and anytime you have been at one spot for long run, you are doing something right. At one point, coach Lubick and his staff established the parameters of this conference and set standards that we are trying to get to. We know what they are capable of and that makes them dangerous."
On the team's red zone defense:
"We have struggled at times with our red zone defense. We have tried just about every blitz there is and we have used a lot of our base packages to mix things up. We have been trying to get our hands on something that will work. When you have a group that is inexperienced you basically have to go back to your base packages and work from there. We see signs, especially in the second half of games, of our guys getting better. We've been getting our hands a lot on the football with four turnovers two weeks ago and three the last. That's a big improvement from two turnovers in the first two games."
On the team's confidence at this point of the season:
"This a time when leadership really comes into play. I believe we have some strong leaders this year compared to last year. This is a time when you need your seniors and captains to step up and lead the team. You get concerned about shaken confidence coming out of a tough non-conference schedule because they are young guys. We need leaders to step forward and I believe they will, starting with our captains."
Junior linebacker Russell Allen
On the responsibility of being a captain:
"The responsibility always falls on us as leaders to get our team ready to play. Saturday was a tough game, but we will take what we learned from it into this week as we begin conference play. It is on us as captains, as well as the seniors, to make sure our whole team comes out ready to work hard and get better."
On beginning conference play:
"We play in a great conference and we get to start (Mountain West) action this week. Conference play is what it is all about for us, and it is something we have looked forward to all year."
On SDSU's red-zone defense:
"(Red-zone defense) is something that we focus on every week. It is obviously very important and we haven't been where we want to be in that area. The red-zone is such a vital part of our game, so we are just going to keep working on it, starting today in practice."
Senior quarterback Kevin O'Connell
On the responsibility of being a captain:
"I think that what happens in a game can effect how a team plays the following week. If you have a young football team and you get a win, sometimes that can carry over and affect your practices and preparations (for the next game). Win or lose, you need solid leadership and a strong foundation so that people know when Monday comes around, you have to roll up your sleeves and go to work just like you did the previous week."
On SDSU's loss to No. 24 Cincinnati:
"We obviously wanted a better showing and it was a tough loss, but we've moved on. We gave credit to where it was due. Cincinnati is a great football team, but now we're headed into conference play and this is what we've been looking forward to all year."
On beginning conference play:
"You need to do well in the conference slate if you want to play that extra game at the end of the year, and we have two conference road games (Colorado State and Utah) to start Mountain West play. A lot of us upperclassmen have had victories at both of the stadiums that we are about to visit. So, it's a matter of portraying that (to the younger players) as much as it is about forgetting what happened the previous week."
On the Mountain West Conference:
"One of the unique things about our conference is that one week you could be out in Las Vegas and the next week you're up in Laramie, Wyo. It's something that a lot of other conferences don't have and it's something that we take a lot of pride in."